


Biscuits Under the Stars

by Abbyromana



Series: Father-Daughter Domestics [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestics, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sequel, introspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 20:07:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17372462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abbyromana/pseuds/Abbyromana
Summary: After events in the Museum of Lost History, there are things to unsettle between father and daughter. Can bridges be mended?





	1. Not So Unfamiliar

The night sky was dark, and yet, brilliantly lit with billions of twinkling lights. Each and every one of them Wilf knew by name, and without a doubt, he knew if they were a star or a planet. He never tired of gazing up at them. Never tired of imaging what it must be like to travel to those distant worlds and meet their inhabitants, much like his granddaughter was doing these days with the Doctor. He lived through her, and now could meet aliens, such as the Doctor and his daughter, Jenny.

Returning from his spellbound dreams about space, WIlf gazed at Jenny, sitting patiently on the red blanket in front of his telescope, a short distance away from him. She looked so young and so human to him. Especially now, when she wore a pretty dark blue, knee-high dress and her long blonde hair cascaded down her back in waves. She looked like any teenager ready for a night out on the town. It was hard for Wilf to imagine she’d been born light-years from Earth and thousands of years in the future. Then again, when he’d first met the Doctor that last Christmas with the Titanic flying over Buckingham, he’d never have guessed the slender, black tuxedoed man was an alien.

_One second I’d been alone, just watching the telly at my stall. Not a soul in sight, and the next there he was with those strange people, looking utterly lost and confused. I should have known then and there, he wasn’t just some barmy bloke in a black tuxedo, out looking for a good time. He’d even disappeared right before my eyes._

A partial smile played on Wilf’s lips, while he once again started strolling towards Jenny. She stared upwards with a silent mesmerized look playing in her blue eyes.

The young, high-spirited Jenny and her father had showed up a few hours ago; of course, they were twenty-four hours late, and Donna and his daughter, Sylvia, were right riot about it. Oh, how Sylvia had chewed the Doctor out, not letting him get a word in edge-wise, and then Donna had ended any argument that might have been on the Doctor’s lips with a thunderous slap. She didn’t waste a second, just leaving him standing there with a hurt look and rubbing his reddening cheek, while she led away a speechless Jenny by the hand.

That was his granddaughter, taking charge and accepting no lip from anyone. Donna had always been determined and stubborn, but the way Donna quickly and instantly focused so completely on the young girl with a reassuring smile, leaving the Doctor at the front door – well, it wasn’t anything Wilf had seen his granddaughter do before. Oh, she’d taken care of her younger cousins, but there was something different in the way she treated Jenny. If Wilf hadn’t known any better, he’d have thought Donna was simply Jenny’s mum, caring for her after being lost for so long. Of course, that was completely untrue, despite Sylvia’s insinuations to Donna and the rest of the extended family at the reunion whenever. No, Wilf knew this behaviour was just another, ‘yet something new’ that being around the Doctor had brought out of her. She was being a protective motherly figure to this poor girl, who obviously lacked any.

Unexpectedly, Jenny glanced over her shoulder at him with a smile, catching Wilf slightly off guard. “Wilf, did you find that blanket?” she asked, gripping her bare shoulders and shivering. “I think you’re right. I might need it.”

“Oh!” WIlf exclaimed. That snapped Wilf from his thoughts and reminded him why he’d trekked back from the allotment to the Noble’s two level semi. Quickly unfolding the large blue blanket in his arms, he closed the gap between them and laid the blanket over her shoulder. “Here you go, sweetheart.”

Jenny smiled warmly at him. “Thank you, Wilf,” She said, and after he’d smiled back with a bashful chuckle, she’d turned away and started situating the blanket over herself.

Well, Wilf didn’t think Jenny wasn’t a charming child, appearing to be good-natured and knowing her p’s and q’s. She had never been mean or demanding since she’d arrived. In fact, she had asked Sylvia if she could help clean up after the meal, and while washing the dishes with his daughter, Jenny had listened more attentively to Sylvia than Wilf had seen anyone do in a long time. He had to give her credit for putting up with that without either falling asleep or making any rude comments. He knew Jenny’s father would have done one or the other. But, at the same time, Wilf had also noticed Jenny knew how to talk, chatter on endlessly, much like her father, on some of the most surprising topics.

Jenny cleared her throat before turning slowly on bottom towards him. He noticed her wince slightly, placing a hand over her left knee and blowing out a breath before speaking. “I’m sorry to say this, Wilf, but… ahh… I can’t seem to remember where we left off talking,” she said remorsefully with a furrowed brow. “Was it the Earth’s Fourth World War or the Mars’ Second Civil War?”

As Wilf said, she liked talking about things he’d never thought teenage girls would enjoy. Then again, he had to remind himself continually, she wasn’t a human girl, and according to Donna, Jenny had been born into a militaristic society: she was a soldier. So perhaps this type of topic was part and parcel with her. Wilf had known people like that, mean and narrow minded men, but Jenny just didn’t act as those men, and he couldn’t shake this feeling that being a soldier didn’t even scratch the surface of Jenny.

_I bet you’re more than just some rule-following, gun-toting soldier. Even more than just… what did Donna say your father was again… Time… Lord, was it? Well, whatever it is your father is, I bet you’re more than just that. Just like Donna, I bet you’re something special, yet undiscovered._

Wilf chuckled, shaking his head. “Doesn’t matter, sweetheart,” he said cheerfully, taking a seat in the old canvas chair next to her blanketed form.

Jenny looked at him with a slightly confused and slightly apologetic look. Her lips were downturned, and that spark of joy was gone from her eyes. She definitely had her father’s guilty expression down flat. Instantly, it became obvious she was about to take the blame, which was silly and pointless in Wilf’s mind.

He winked at Jenny, nudging her gently. “No big deal. Really!” he said with a partial smile. Then in a kind of hushed voice, he continued. “To be honest, sweetheart, I can’t remember either. Forgetful, that’s me. I always say, if you can’t remember, then it probably wasn’t anything interesting... or important any way. So let’s find something else a bit more fun to chat about. What do you say?”

Jenny flashed a huge, playful grin back. “Okay,” Jenny said thoughtfully as her gaze drifted back up into the sky. “What else would you like to talk about… to keep us from having to go back inside?”

That mischievous comment and glint in her blue eyes made Wilf chuckle again as his gaze drifted upwards. In so many ways, Wilf thought Jenny was a reflection of her father. Yet, in one very important way she was starkly different; she avoided upsetting Sylvia and the rest of them, which, considering the Doctor’s track record with Wilf’s daughter, was an achievement. Jenny did it marvellously, leaving Wilf truly impressed with her. She was a little peacemaker between the Doctor and the Noble family. He’d come to think of her as a small constant light against the Doctor’s sometimes shadowed self.

Wilf wondered if the Doctor felt the same, because throughout the time they’d spent inside the Noble’s house, the Doctor’s gaze had never strayed long from Jenny. It was as if the Doctor’s eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to her. Wilf knew the Doctor might just be a very watchful parent, since according to Donna, he’d only been a father for a few weeks now. Donna’s dad had been the same the first few months after Donna was born, constantly checking to see how she was, what she was doing, if she was happy, if she was hungry, etc, etc. To be honest, Geoff Noble had continued to be watchful of his little girl as she grew up, particularly with her habit of being very independent and stubborn, and disappearing from under both parents’ noses. So perhaps, the Doctor was the same, but Wilf got the impression there was something more to it than just that.

Wilf noticed it in the small things that both father and daughter did. While the Doctor’s eyes never left Jenny long, he seemed to be always keeping his distance. The Doctor sat on the other side of the table during dinner, and later during the night, he always stood on the other side of the room. All the while, he watched Jenny intently and usually with a thoughtful expression. It was obvious the Doctor avoided speaking directly to Jenny the entire night. In fact, Wilf had noted the almost complete lack of talking by the Doctor for most of the evening, except occasionally with Donna. Wilf had never seen the Doctor so quiet and withdrawn.

Jenny never tried to talk directly to her father. Instead, she focused all her efforts towards interacting independently with the rest of them, while the Doctor seemed content to just to listen in the background. Wilf also noticed it in the way Jenny acted or reacted to her father when he did talk or did anything. She seemed unsure and conflicted. Both seemed fine talking about the other when called upon and nothing ill was said about each other, but at the same time, both seemed to be avoiding direct contact. For instance, quite often Jenny follow him or Sylvia or Donna out of the room her father was in currently, whether or not she was asked to come along. In fact, when Wilf had mentioned his stargazing site on top of the hill, Jenny had practically pushed Wilf to show her.

Their whole interaction was a reverse from what Donna had told Sylvia and him. There was no immediate click between them, no sign of closeness or familiarity. They could have been two complete strangers they’d separately invited over, and Wilf wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. That’s what made Wilf wonder if something had happened in the few hours or so, since they’d left Donna on Earth.

That’s why Wilf had been willing to show Jenny his stargazing spot. Well, that and he just really wanted to share his hobby to someone new. So, the short trip had been a dual-purpose one. Now that he’d opened up the conversation from simply military history, he searched for a way to help Jenny open up to him.

“So…” Wilf said, glancing briefly in Jenny’s direction. She was nestled in the huge blue blanket, just her blue eyes and the top of her blonde head peeking out the opening. Her gaze shifted in his direction with an expectant look. “What’s it like up there?”

Jenny shrugged, the blue blanket rippling in reaction. “It’s okay,” she mumbled from under her blue coverings.

“Okay?” Wilf said questioningly with a few slow nods of his head.

Then he noticed her brow furrow, and she cocked her head to one side as if she was listening to something. Wilf gave Jenny his full attention, watching as her whole head appeared from the blanket opening. Her lips moved in and out thoughtfully, while her gaze shifted skyward. “Wellll,” Jenny said slowly. “To be honest, it’s huge!” She chuckled as if it was one big inside joke.

“You don’t say,” Wilf said, urging her to go on. “How so?”

“Weelll, sometimes it can... it is quite intimating,” Jenny said, looking his way with a sideways glance. He thought she appeared to be testing his reply, so he took a chance, hoping to lead her to be honest with him.

“Strange and scary, you mean?” Wilf inquired with a half smile, nudging her again.

“Sometimes more one way than the other,” Jenny said, swaying her head back and forth. There was a look on her face, but Wilf couldn’t tell if it was a smile or a grimace. He took a shot as commenting.

“Then you are a brave girl,” Wilf told her, returning his gaze upward.

“Of course! A soldier has to be,” Jenny said sharply, immediately drawing Wilf’s gaze back to her. “I have to be!”

This was the first time he’d heard her use such a tone, and it surprised him. The glaring look in her blue eyes made him lean back even further, because he wasn’t sure what she might do next. He actually feared he’d perhaps pushed her in the wrong direction.

“Oh, I see,” Wilf said with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.

There was a short pause and Jenny’s facial expression gradually softened. Ridges formed in her brow and her lips dipped into a frown. “Sorry, that was rude of me,” Jenny apologized, quickly averting her gaze towards her blue blanket, where Wilf noticed her hands fidgeted beneath. “I shouldn’t…

“Nothing wrong,” Wilf said, interrupting her. He wasn’t going to give her chance to start feeling bad about herself and closing herself off from him. “Nothing wrong at all defending oneself. I know what you mean. I was once a soldier too.”

Jenny’s gaze rose towards him. Her brow furrowed with her nose wrinkling. She was giving him quite a sceptical stare that moved up and down his body, probably cataloguing every wrinkle and the bludge of his out-of-weight, coated form. There was true doubt in her blue eyes.

“Oh, I know I don’t look the part,” Wilf said with a chuckle. “It’s been ages. Back when I was younger.”

“One of the first world wars, right?” Jenny asked innocently and with clear interest.

“Yes,” Wilf admitted with a sad sigh. He let his gaze drift off into the pitch-black distance. “But, I must admit, unlike you sweetheart, I’m not so fond about talking about it. Things I saw, I did… some of it, I’m not proud of. I wish I could forget.”

Jenny nodded her understanding. “Just like Da…” She paused again, but this time the pause was very abrupt, which drew Wilf’s full attention towards her. She had lowered her head. Her eyes shut as tightly as her drawn lips. She drew in several breaths through her nose before speaking again. “I mean, the Doctor.”

Wilf’s left eyebrow raised in question. Once again, that something between father and daughter was practically screaming out at Wilf for attention. He saw it not so much in what she said, but in what she didn’t say. She’d stopped herself from referring to the Doctor as her dad, and instead, corrected herself with his name. There was just something so wrong about it, especially since Donna had pointed out humorously how Jenny was the only person who refused to call him ‘Doctor.’ A prickling urge to inquire nipped at Wilf’s tongue. Yet, he was afraid of pushing her too hard. He thought for a minute how he could get her to open up to him, to be honest with him about what was troubling her, but he shouldn’t have worried himself with the how.

Barely a moment passed, when all of a sudden Jenny said rather frankly and bluntly, “You’re a good man, Wilf.” He looked wide-eyed at her, noticing her eyes remained shut and face tilted downward. “When Donna spoke of you, she always said you were kind… and a good listener.”

Wilf smiled at the nice words of his granddaughter. Not that he was surprised; Donna and Wilf had always been close, but for her to mention to another person really hit home that point.

“And she said she could tell you anything without being judged, without feeling bad afterwards,” Jenny told him. Her blue eyes slowly opened, but her gaze remained focused on to the blue blanket, “In fact, Donna said, she always felt better after confiding in you.”

Wilf blushed, before clearing his throat. “Well, if my granddaughter says so, then I guess…” he said, ending his words with a shrug. He gazed at the young, blonde girl, fidgeting with a ragged edge to the old blue blanket. She was staring intently at it as her lips moved silently. Then she drew in a very long, slightly ragged breath as her brow furrowed.

“Every thing alright, Jenny?” Wilf asked nervously, rising from his canvas chair. He pushed it aside and, ignoring the creaks of arthritis, took a seat on the red-blanketed ground beside the young, blonde girl.

“I…” Jenny started to say, but her voice broke. Her mouth snapped shut along with her eyes. There was a long pause, while Jenny drew in another deep breath. Then slowly, she turned in his direction.

When their gazes met, Wilf noticed the wideness and moistness of her blue eyes. There was a pleading, cheerless look in them. It was as if her heart was yelling out through them, unable to hold in anything it had held secret before. Once more, Jenny looked like just another human girl: very innocent and needing a shoulder to lean on. Her lips parted again, and once more, she drew in a long breath. Wilf could already see the question dancing on her tongue.

So Wilf smiled warmly at Jenny, wrapping an arm around her, and said gently, “Don’t worry, Jenny, I’m listening.”

That’s all it took. Jenny didn’t hesitate then to be open with him, and it was a whirlwind of emotional turmoil and confusion she let lose. Some of it Wilf had heard before from Donna as she had grown up from a child into a young woman. They were the stories and concerns of a young girl trying to find herself, discover who she was and where she fit in. There were emotions about figuring out how to function in a world she hadn’t planned on or accepted completely, and anger and fear towards her parents – in the case of Jenny, her father. For those, he had could only give some advice when she asked for some.

Yet, the rest baffled Wilf. He found himself mostly just sitting there, listening attentively and patiently, feeling slightly shocked, as Jenny spilled her guts about so many topics: her birth planet Messaline, her creation in a progenation machine, being born and breed to be a soldier, fighting alien fish, fighting to save her lives from thieves in this Museum of Lost History, dealing with her father’s explosive and random personality, trying to figure out how to be an asset to her father in saving worlds and not a liability, her father’s ‘alienness’ towards and about her, her lack of understanding of most things, her desire to understand him and his people, her desire to understand herself in terms of both him and his people, and the list went on and on.

When she’d finally stopped the last time to draw a final shuddering breath, resting her head against Wilf’s shoulder, it was already long past one in the morning by his watch. He was tempted to walk her back to Noble’s semi, but decided she needed a short rest first. He expected that she probably felt very emotionally drained.

Wilf found he was right as Jenny stilled against him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw her eyelids droop closed slowly. Her breathing was evening out, and she rested most of her weight against him. Wilf was more than happy to take it.

_It’s horrendous! She shouldn’t have so much worry on her young shoulders. She should be out having fun, doing things that people her age would be doing. She should be going out with friends, meeting people her own age, going to school, getting into trouble and driving her father sparse. Her biggest concerns should be figuring who is her favourite boy band or finishing her school assignments, not what is her place in the universe or how she can help her father defeat evil aliens._

“But then, I suppose I’ve forgotten again that Jenny isn’t a human girl,” Wilf muttered, shaking his head. One of his eyebrows rose up his forehead. “Of course, technically she isn’t a teenager either. She’s less than a month old! Still, that only means she deserves even more time without worry and responsibility.”

Wilf was angry, but he also knew it didn’t matter what he thought. Jenny’s fate wasn’t in his hands, and she wasn’t some normal human girl. She was, as Donna had put it, a Time Lady.

“I suppose Time Lords don’t live like us humans,” Wilf said, brushing a few strand of blond hair behind Jenny left ear. “I suppose, it’s managing time the second you enter the world.” He sighed. “Poor Jenny.” Then he paused, considering Jenny wasn’t the only person to feel sorry for the stress. “Poor Doctor.”

Almost on cue, Wilf heard the rustle of a nearby bush just to his left. He turned his head sharply, gazing over the top of Jenny’s inclined head. His old eyes peered out through the darkness, trying to see what had made a sound. Blinking a few times, Wilf swore he saw the tail end of a long tan overcoat, very much like the Doctor’s coat.

“I guess we weren’t as alone as we thought, hey, Jenny?” Wilf said questioningly with a puff of laughter, gazing down at Jenny, who was now fast asleep against his shoulder.

 

_To be continued..._


	2. Daughters

Sylvia Noble washed the last of the dinner plates in the sud-filled sink, letting her thoughts wander. Absent-mindedly, she softly hummed, gazing at the back garden tinted orange and red by the setting sun. The world outside looked quite peaceful. The day for once, in a long while, had turned out to be uneventful, especially considering that that Doctor had showed up again. She would have ushered the barmy man away the instant he’d appeared at the door of her semi, if her daughter and Jenny hadn’t been with him. It had been nearly a month since Sylvia had last seen them. It had also been about a month’s time since the fiasco of the Noble family reunion.

Family reunions weren’t Sylvia’s favourite events, whether it was her family or her dearly departed Geoff’s family, particularly when she had to host it. There was nothing more troublesome than housing more than twenty of the Noble clan, but her sister-in-laws wouldn’t take no for an answer. Sylvia had actually hoped some alien invasion would have happened, keeping them away. She’d have even put up with the troublesome Doctor, if he could drive away her relations, but no, he was actually absent, showing up twenty-four hours later.

_Only good thing that Doctor’s ever done to this family is bring Jenny into it. Poor child._

Sylvia tossed a longing glance over her shoulder, while placing the last dinner plate in the cupboard. The Doctor’s young, blonde daughter sat alone at the kitchen table with an empty plate and almost empty glass of milk in front of her. Turning completely in her direction, Sylvia noted that Jenny looked happy. In fact, she looked very, very happy with her eyes shut and a huge smile plastered across her face. Her tongue danced over her lips, licking up the last bit of chocolate. Sylvia had never seen anyone enjoy her biscuits as much as Jenny, which left Sylvia pondering had the child never had chocolate biscuits before.

_I hate to think what else your father has been denying you. Someone certainly needs to have a word or two with that man. I’m surprised Donna hasn’t done so already. What sort of mum has she been to you, sweetheart?_

Leaning back against the kitchen sink, Sylvia gazed at the joyful expression on Jenny’s face as she gulped down the last bit of milk. When Sylvia saw Jenny’s arm rise towards her mouth to wipe away whatever was on her face, she coughed, drawing Jenny’s attention. Sylvia widened her eyes and nodded towards the table where a napkin lay, and then Jenny turned briefly in that direction before blushing.

Oops,” Jenny mumbled, picking up the napkin. She wiped her mouth, while turning an apologetic look in Sylvia’s direction. “Sorry, I forgot.”

Sylvia nodded with a raised eyebrow. “I can see that,” Sylvia said, drying her hands on the dishtowel. “Does that dad of yours teach you nothing of manners?”

“Well, uhhh...” Jenny said, resting her weight on her elbows on the table and learning a bit too far forward for Sylvia’s liking.

“Just like I thought,” Sylvia said, pushing herself away from the sink and crossing her arms over her chest. “I’ll bet he’s been lacking on impressing on some of those important p’s and q’s, like no slouching and no elbows on the table.”

Instantly, Jenny straightened her back, removing her elbows from the table, and turned in Sylvia’s direction. “Well, some I know, and I...”

“Oh, I don’t blame you, sweetheart,” Sylvia explained, sounding exasperated, but still smiling warmly at Jenny, “and it’s not like you don’t have some manners, unlike that father of yours.”

She saw Jenny’s brow furrowed slightly and her lips parted, but quickly her mouth snapped shut, curving into a friendly smile, and her brow smoothed out. “Thank you,” Jenny said simply. “But actually he’s not so bad... all the time. He just...” She paused, shrugging. “Sometimes has trouble... expressing himself.”

“Him? Having trouble expressing himself?” Sylvia scoffed, chuckling as she turned towards the milk container on the kitchen counter. She picked it up and returned her attention towards Jenny, who gave her a thoughtful look.

“Well, maybe that’s not the best way to put it,” Jenny admitted, watching Sylvia as she approached the table, “but...”

“Oh, never mind him,” Sylvia interrupted her. She smiled warmly at Jenny, placing a hand against her back. She really didn’t care to argue with the child right now. The poor girl probably didn’t even notice all she was lacking, and being a good girl, Jenny wouldn’t dare speak against her parents. “What I want to know is did you enjoy the biscuits, Jennifer?”

As Jenny seemed to ponder her question, Sylvia pondered her. To the older woman, Jenny was such mixture of contradictions. Sometimes Jenny seemed such a child, so innocent, inquisitive, in need of guidance, and eager to help, while other times she spoke with authority beyond her years, and she was so informed on topics that no one her age would know or care about. Sylvia just didn’t understand Jenny, but she knew truly treasured her and wanted to be what her father and Donna obviously weren’t.

“Yes, they were delicious,” Jenny answered with a warm smile. “I’ve never tasted anything like them.”

“Really?” Sylvia asked, sounding surprised. “Nothing like them wherever it is you all travel off to?”

Jenny shook her head, picking up her milk glass again. “Not that I know of,” Jenny told her, tipping her milk glass back, but finding it empty. Her face fell, setting the glass back down on the table.

“Would you like some more milk, Jennifer?” Sylvia asked, already starting to refill Jenny’s empty milk glass.

Jenny smiled and nodded at Sylvia before her gaze shifted towards the metal biscuit box on the table, just out of reaching distance. Jenny nibbled her lower lip as her eyes narrowed on the tin thoughtfully. Having been a mum, a wife, and a daughter, Sylvia knew the telltale signs of someone tempted to have yet another biscuit. Honestly, for the first time in awhile, Sylvia was more than happy to see the enthusiasm. Jenny was young, and if her father’s active life with the whole ATMOS thing was any sign of Jenny’s life, the young daughter of the Doctor would probably burn the calories in no time. Also considering Jenny's father's physique, Sylvia suspected Jenny's genes probably destined her to be a skinny little thing.

That’s why Sylvia was tempted to suggest Jenny taking some with her when they left again. Yet, her leaving wasn’t something Sylvia wanted to think about right now. Just like Donna, Sylvia didn’t like seeing Jenny run off with her draft father to who knows where, not sending word back. If she had her way, Sylvia would keep both of her girls here where she could keep an eye on them. That wasn’t going to happen. For now, Sylvia focused on the here and now, appreciating Jenny’s company.

“Would you like more, sweetheart?” Sylvia asked, pulling Jenny’s attention from the biscuit container to her. “I have peanut butter, almond, banana and cherry flavoured biscuits as well.”

“Perhaps later, Sylvia,” Jenny replied with a bemused grin, “but maybe…”

“Grandma,” Sylvia corrected with a huge, beaming grin. She gently moved a few loose blonde strands of Jenny’s hair behind her right ear. “I told you, Jennifer, call me Grandma or Nan. Remember?”

Jenny blinked, and for a moment, her smile faltered. Then a second later, her eyes widened and her grin returned intensified. “Oh, right, Nan,” Jenny replied. “Nan, I thought perhaps the Doctor, might like some banana biscuits. He really likes things that are banana flavoured. Can I get some for him?”

Sylvia pulled back from Jenny for a moment and looked at her with awe. The child was putting her father’s needs before her own. This fact unbelievably touched and stunned Sylvia. It just went to prove to Sylvia how much better behaved and thoughtful Jenny was in comparison to her father. There was no doubt in Sylvia’s mind that if it was him, he’d have snagged some from the tin when Sylvia’s back was turned and not even asked permission or thought of his poor daughter. Sylvia just smiled broadly and sadly at Jenny.

“Oh, you are such a good daughter, Jennifer,” Sylvia said, caressing the back of Jenny’s head, making note that Jenny’s hair looked unwashed. That was going to be another thing she’d have to bring up with her daughter when she and the Doctor returned from the market.

Jenny’s brow furrowed, and she looked at Sylvia perplexed. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, Jennifer,” Sylvia said happily, chuckling as she realised Jenny was so much like she’d always hoped Donna would be.

Her daughter always argued with her, even when Sylvia was simply trying to get Donna to be a bit more responsible. She wanted Donna to find a real life for herself, not this life of running off to far-flung places with the Doctor. No, she needed something to ground her with family in a real home, and somewhere Sylvia could actually visit her. But Donna never listened to her, and Sylvia rarely ever saw her daughter do anything out of kindness or responsibility to her mum or family. No, Sylvia knew it took a great amount of pushing and prodding to get her daughter to do anything for others.

“My daughter would never have thought of me,” Sylvia declared with a scoff.

Jenny turned sharply in her chair towards Sylvia with a furrowed brow. “Really?” she asked.

Sylvia shook her head. “Donna is too stubborn and self-centred to think of anyone but herself,” she sighed, taking a seat next to Jenny. “Sometimes you wouldn’t believe the pain I have to go through just to get her to listen to me, to think outside of her own little circle of wants and needs.”

Jenny’s mouth opened and closed a few times as her gaze dipped. “She’s never mentioned...”

“I doubt she even notices it anymore,” Sylvia stated, shifting the tin closer towards Jenny. “But I blame myself and my dear, sweet, and giving Geoff. We spoiled her when she was young. I told Geoff that letting her always get her way and always to go where she’d like... she’d end up selfish. You know when she was six, Geoff and I decided to put our foot down for once on her demands. I... We said 'no holiday this year,' but Donna didn’t care a lick what we said. She stole one of my hat boxes, packed it full of her stuff, and hopped a bus to Strathclyde.” Sylvia paused with a sigh.

“Wow,” Jenny said softly with wide eyes.

“Wow, indeed,” Sylvia said with distain. “She had us worried sick for hours. Poor Geoff, he suffered the worse, having to put up with our habitual rows as Donna grew up.” Sylvia sighed again, this time remembering her dearly departed husband with fondness. She could feel the tears pricking in her eyes, but she forced them back down. “He never saw a day without it.”

“Does that mean you don’t love your daughter?” Jenny asked with a nervous tone. Sylvia’s gaze drifted back to Jenny. The young, blonde girl was staring wide-eyed at her, looking expectantly. “Because she upset you, made your life harder, never did just what you told her, disagreed with you... and all that other stuff.”

“Of course, I love her!” Sylvia barked suddenly, leaning forward sharply into Jenny’s space. “She’s my daughter! How could I...” The older woman bit her tongue, drawing in a deep sigh. She lowered her head for a moment, pulling back a bit from Jenny, while shaking her head. “No matter how much she upsets me, no matter what she did or does, Donna will always be my little lady. I’ll always love her.” Sylvia leaned back in her chair, resting her hands and the dishtowel in her lap.

Jenny sat there patiently, seeming to hang on to every word Sylvia said and every deep breath she drew.

“Jennifer, I don’t think there is a real parent in the all of existence who wouldn’t say the very same thing that I have about their little one. No matter how old she is or where she goes, she’s still my little lady.” Sylvia smiled ruefully, fixing Jenny with a teasing stare. “Even if she is a pain in the back more often than not.”

Suddenly, Jenny’s face broke into a huge smile, and she sprang across the distance between them. She hugged Sylvia tightly. “Oh, thank you! Thank you!” she said in a tight but happy voice.

Sylvia wasn’t sure what she had said to deserve that, but she accepted the hug from Jenny. “You’re welcome, Jennifer,” she said warmly. When Jenny pulled back after a long moment, Sylvia asked, “So about those biscuits?”

“Oh, yes!” Jenny piped up with a big grin. “I’m fine right now, but what about for Da...”

“Ah!” Sylvia exclaimed. “For him.” Sylvia sniffed, rising from her chair and picking up Jenny’s empty biscuit plate. Not missing a step, Sylvia headed back towards the kitchen sink.

She was all for Jenny being polite and thoughtful of her barmy father, but Sylvia wasn’t so sure or ready to be as nice to him. After all, he almost always caused trouble for her family and seemed to be constantly upsetting Donna. Sylvia wasn’t sure he deserved to have any of her delicious cookies, whether or not he’d been good enough to bring Jenny into their lives. As she considered all she knew about him, Sylvia played for time with a more off-handed comment. “Well, it depends.”

There was pause, filled with movement from the kitchen table. “Depends on what?”

“It depends on him living up to his daughter,” Sylvia said,  placing Jenny’s empty, crumb covered plate in the sud-filled sink. “If he doesn’t go and cause more trouble, while he’s here… and upsetting Donna, then I’ll consider it.”

“Oh,” Jenny said simply from behind Sylvia. She heard Jenny pick up her milk glass again.

“Now don’t worry about it. You finish up your milk,” Sylvia said over her shoulder.

“Right,” Jenny said, suddenly piping up. “Wilf should be back soon with his telescope.”

Sylvia rolled her eyes, and as if on cue, she heard heavy steps coming down the stairs, just outside the kitchen doorway. “Alright, alright, I’ve got everything together,” Wilf said with a chuckle. She turned to see her father standing in the doorway with a huge grin on his face and his long telescope case in his hands. “Sorry it took me so long. Ready to head out!”

“Really, Dad,” Sylvia said with exasperated sigh. “Do you honestly think it’s a good idea to be taking her out there, particularly on a night like this? The weatherman said there could be rain.”

“Then we’d just have to start a little bonfire and hunker down in the allotment shed for a bit. Jenny and me, we’re made of strong stuff! We can outlast a storm!” Wilf answered with huge grin, chuckling slightly “Right, Kiddo?” He winked mischievously in Jenny’s direction.

Sylvia rolled her eyes, but stopped short of saying anything, when she heard Jenny giggle just as impishly. In almost a circle, Sylvia spun around towards Jenny. The young girl wore a matching grin to Wilf, which she was trying to muffle with her hands. “Well, really!” Sylvia scoffed, slapping down the dishtowel onto the counter and looking between Jenny and Wilf.

“Ah, just a little fun, that’s all, sweetheart,” Wilf said to Sylvia. He walked towards Jenny, who had risen to her feet. When he’d reached Jenny’s side, he spun around in Sylvia’s direction, still grinning. “I promise, if there’s a drop a rain, we’d be back here before...”

“Yes, yes, just like last time, when Donna and the Doctor had to bring the two of you back,” Sylvia pointed out through tightly drawn lips. “Sometime after two in the morning, I remember.”

Wilf gave his daughter a bashful smile before looking towards Jenny. “So what have you been doing, while I was gone?”

“Syl... I mean Nan gave me these delicious things call biscuits,” Jenny told him, pointing towards the tin.

“Oh, did she now,” Wilf said with a mirth-filled grin, laying down his cased telescope on the kitchen table, which Sylvia really hated him doing, since it was dirty and meant she’d have to clean the table yet again. As he continued his explanation, he made corresponding, illustrative gestures. “Then count yourself lucky, sweetheart, because she doesn’t do that often. She wouldn’t for me. She wouldn’t for Donna. Nope, the general of this house keeps her sweets under wraps. A tight lid on that tin especially. Only those she feels worthy enough can get inside... and oh, don’t even think of stealing any without her written word, because she’ll get you!” At the end, he made a slicing motion across his neck, which made Jenny jump and her eyes widened.

“Really?” Jenny said, sounding shocked.

“Yup!” Wilf declared, and then without warning, he quickly reached towards Jenny and started to tickle her mercilessly. Jenny shrieked and broke into a fit of giggles, while desperately trying to get away from him without falling over.

“Dad!” Sylvia warned loudly and threateningly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Both Jenny and Wilf stopped immediately what they were doing and looked in Sylvia’s direction. Wilf had a teasing smile on his face as he pulled his hands way from Jenny, while the Doctor’s young daughter was trying to get over her giggling fit.

“Stop exaggerating, Dad, and leave the poor girl alone,” Sylvia told them, giving her father a warning glare.

“Oh, I’m just keeping young Jenny here informed,” Wilf said, wrapping an arm around Jenny. “She’ll have to learn sometime. Learn the rules.” He dropped his voice menacing on the last part.

“No, you’re trying to scare her, and I think she gets enough of that from her father’s way of life,” Sylvia contradicted, continuing to glare at her father.

“I’m not scared by any of those monsters or...” Jenny explained with a grin, leaning back against the table.

“Slouching, Jennifer!” Sylvia said sharply, interrupting Jenny. Instantly, Jenny popped back up into a full standing position. Then Sylvia’s brow furrowed and she asked, “Monsters?”

“Monstrous,” Wilf corrected quickly, winking at Jenny who was giving him a confused look. “Monstrous people and problems. Remember, Donna said the Doctor is a ‘fixer,’ travelling around the world fixing and making things better.”

Sylvia’s eyes narrowed but she nodded, recalling some vague tale her daughter had told her, even though she still didn’t understand what it meant and had a feeling her daughter was spinning her yet another lie. “Yes,” she said slowly, looking between the two, who were whispering to each other now. “What about it?”

Suddenly, Jenny turned back with a new big grin. “That’s all,” Jenny said. “Not afraid of any of that.” Then she paused and stepped towards Sylvia. “And it’s nice to be somewhere where I don’t have to worry about all that, and I can relax and enjoy myself. Speaking of which, I’ve changed my mind, I’d like some more biscuits please, if it’s still okay with you, Nan.” Jenny beamed at Sylvia with a big, beautiful smile.

Sylvia, though slightly sceptical on the sudden change of topic and interest, nodded her approval. “Okay, you can take the tin out with you, but try not to eat too many,” Sylvia told her. “I don’t want you to get a tummy ache before you go to bed.”

Jenny beamed, moving up to Sylvia, and hugged her again. “Thank you again, Nan!”

Sylvia couldn’t help but smile at the young, blonde girl, even as Jenny dashed back over to the table, retrieving the biscuit tin. “And no giving him,” she told her firmly, pointing at Wilf, “any of them.”

Wilf groaned, rolling his eyes as he picked up his telescope case.

“You heard the doctor last time,” Sylvia told him. “Your blood sugar and bad cholesterol is too high to be munching away on sweets and pork pies. That includes biscuits, Dad!”

Jenny looked between Sylvia and her father. After a moment, she nodded at Sylvia. “I understand,” Jenny said. Then she turned towards Wilf with a smirk. “Race you to the allotment!”

Without another word, Jenny had just taken off, making it to the back door before Wilf. But Sylvia’s father was hot on her heels with his heavy black raincoat flapping open around him. That’s when Sylvia’s gaze flew to Jenny, remembering something else.

“Oi! Just a hold it a second there, young lady!” Sylvia called, stopping the pair in the doorway. “Where do you think you are going?”

Jenny turned a raised eyebrow in Sylvia’s direction with one foot out the door and the other ready to push off after it. “To see the stars, just like Wilf said.”

“In a t-shirt and pants, I don’t think so,” Sylvia said sternly as Wilf moved back in her direction.

“It will be alright, sweetheart,” Wilf said, walking back towards her. “It’s almost July.”

Sylvia scoffed. “It will be cold, Dad, particularly on top of that hill at this time of night, and it will be even colder once it starts raining,” she pointed out with a stern frown directed at both Wilf and Jenny. “And despite my father’s promises, I’m not going to be irresponsible like your father and let you out there just like that. Just stay right there, while I get one of Donna’s old raincoats.” She stepped past her father on her way to the doorway leading to the front hallway. There she briefly paused, saying to him, “You better take care of her, Dad.”

Wilf flashed a smile at her and softly said, “Haven’t I always, sweetheart.”

Sylvia gave him a shrewd look before glancing behind her father at Jenny, who was starting to lean further and further out the door and gazing upward. “Now don’t move a muscle out that door, until I get back, Jennifer.” The young, blonde girl immediately sprang back in to the kitchen both feet back on the tiled floor with a beaming grin at Sylvia.

“Yes, Nan,” Jenny said, quickly glancing out the kitchen’s backdoor as Sylvia turned away.

Sylvia nodded to herself, heading towards the adjoining door between the kitchen and the main hallway. When she’d just passed through the threshold, she heard her father bluntly say to Jenny, “She didn’t mean you can’t share  _any_  biscuits with me.” Sylvia glanced back as she reached the front hallway closet and saw Jenny grinning, and then winking back a smiling Wilf, who was holding up three fingers.

“I guess I’ll have to be the responsible influence then,” Sylvia said with a deep sigh. “As per usual.”

 

_To be continued..._


	3. The Gift

_The day the Doctor reappeared into my life, I couldn’t have been happier. Sure, I know his life is anything but boring or safe. I've come to accept that. I accept that sometimes there is danger and plenty of running involved. The one thing I never expected was becoming part of another family, and certainly, I never imagined I’d be playing the role of mum to anyone. All of a sudden, I have to be the responsible adult, particularly important when your father is the Doctor, a role that never seemed more important than at this moment..._

oOo

Donna stood in the arching doorway leading into the main hall of the TARDIS library. Both Jenny and the Doctor sat within, some distance apart, completely involved in their respective activities. That alone wasn’t odd per say. Rather, it was two other facts. One, neither of them had made a single noise over the past three minutes, and second, both refrained from glancing at the other for the duration of that time These bothered Donna enough to give the pair a stern once over look. The lack of noise particularly seemed out of the ordinary for the Doctor. Donna expected him to at least be muttering to himself as he usually did when his supposedly brilliant mind was working away, and Jenny usually had a habit of looking to her father when they were in the same room. Donna thought it was Jenny’s way of checking that he was there or using him as a cue on how to act or react to different situations.

Lately, the whole cold and distant routine was starting to get on Donna’s nerves. She was fine with them being independent from each other, needing privacy from others. Every father and daughter deserved to keep some secrets from the other, but this was just getting ridiculous. Ever since they’d returned from their private gallivant to who knows where, Donna had noticed a complete introvert in their attitudes towards each other. They weren’t necessarily acting overly rude. It seemed more as if they just didn’t want to interact, almost as if they’d lost interest and desire in being together.

Donna was tired of whatever this thing was and decided to put an end to it. Her first step was to deal with the supposed adult of the pair. Stepping inside the library, Donna moved first towards the Doctor. He sat cross-legged on the floor between the huge plush sofa and the enormous, wide-screen telly. A scattered mess of misshapen pieces of various colours lay before him. Donna thought they looked more like an alien version of a child’s connective building blocks than parts of the TARDIS console. ‘Overgrown toddler’ flashed through her head, but she bit her tongue. She had to stay focused, get him talking.

“Doctor,” Donna said friendly, stepping up behind him, “what are you doing?”

The Doctor replied with a series of muffled noises that might as well have been in some alien tongue for all the sense it made.

“What?” Donna stated questioningly, crossing her arms over her chest and fixing the back of the Doctor’s head with a bewildered stare. She had a feeling he was teasing her, but held the temptation to smack him on the back of the head.

After a muffled sigh with his shoulders momentarily tensing and then falling, the Doctor turned towards her. His wide brown eyes stared at her past his thick-rimmed glasses, which looked on the verge of falling off his nose. Donna stared back, mostly focused on his sonic screwdriver clamp tightly between his lips.

Donna’s mouth fell open as a less than helpful comment threatened to leap from her tongue. It stopped when the Doctor made another series of muffled muttering. He cocked his head from side to side as if he was explaining something to her. Sighing, Donna reached forward and plucked the sonic screwdriver from his lips.

“Better?” Donna asked sarcastically, holding the sonic device by the tip. When she noticed a bit of spittle glistening on midsection, she wrinkled her nose in disgust but just managed to pull her attention from it.

“Thank you, Donna!” the Doctor said happily. “As I was trying to say, I’m resonating the bi-layered, polymer material of these pieces to connect their unevenly edged sides together.” He lifted a purple piece and a dark blue piece that were connected. Leaning forward, Donna noticed the edge of the plastic-like material didn’t match. It appeared that the Doctor had used the sonic device to reform the connective edges to make them fit.

Donna scoffed, “Oi, Spaceman! You cheated!” She gestured at the deformed area of connection. “It’s blatantly obvious they aren’t supposed to go together like that. Even I can see that.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say cheated exactly,” knowingly said the Doctor. “It isn’t so much cheating as finding a solution to a problem that wasn’t resolving itself.”

“Oh, don’t give me that,” she said firmly, raising an eyebrow daring him to argue his point further. “You cheated, Doctor.”

The Doctor’s lips parted, and then, prominently snapped shut.

Rolling her eyes, Donna asked, “So what are they any way? Some TARDIS, alien, time do-hickey?”

“Well…,” he started to say, rotating the connected pieces in one hand in front of him, while the other hand scratched the back of his neck. “They’re not really part of the TARDIS.”

Donna chuckled as she considered the other idea she had for it. “Oh, really? What are they then… some alieny child’s connective building blocks?”

She chuckled to herself, but stopped when she suddenly heard the Doctor say without a hint of humour, “Yes.”

The laughter froze on her tongue. She just stared blankly at the Doctor. “What?!” she spat out. “You’re having me on!”

The Doctor shook his head and said simply, “No. Why would I do that?”

“You’re telling me you’re fooling around with a child’s toy? And using the sonic screwdriver on them to force them to connect?” she asked, giving him a sceptical look.

The Doctor cocked his head to the side and said seriously, “Yeah, what’s your point?”

Donna rolled her eyes again and stuffed the sonic screwdriver back into the Doctor’ partially parted lips. “Never mind,” Donna grumbled in exasperation, stepping away from him and grumbling to herself, “Overgrown toddler.”

The Doctor was being barmy again, probably trying to get her to leave him alone, so for now Donna did. Besides, she’d have a better chance resolving this problem between father and daughter by talking to the more mature one. Shifting her attention towards Jenny, Donna noticed that, much like her father, Jenny’s activities consumed her attention. She sat at a large, wooden desk with a small, Victorian style desk lamp at each upper corner. Unlike the objects before the Doctor, Jenny’s desk material was neatly organized. On the left side of the desk was a small, fanned pile of papers. Donna noticed a bit of writing and scribbles on a few of the sheets as she approached. The other side there held two open, overly large, and leather-bound books, overlapping one another.

Stepping up behind Jenny, Donna noticed that the fingertips of Jenny’s right hand skimmed one of the books’ visible pages. They moved over a series of circular symbols that, to Donna, seemed scattered and random across the page. Jenny didn’t seem to struggling, despite the fact that Donna couldn’t make heads or tails about them. Donna wondered for a moment if it was an alien language, but then, she didn’t understand why the TARDIS wasn’t translating it for her.

Donna watched as Jenny’s gaze shifted at times from skimming the circular symbols to the pile of papers on the left side of the desk. The Doctor’s daughter wrote something down in clear English, before returning her gaze to one of the books. Gazing at the most recent writing, Donna noticed in very clear English a series of facts having to do with Gallifrey, the Doctor’s home planet, as well as a series of numbers, letters, and names of constellations. Donna was sure she’d heard her granddad mentioned some of those constellations more than once to her.

“Getting ready for your stargazing trip with Granddad tonight?” Donna asked warmly, placing a comforting hand on Jenny’s back.

“Huh?” Jenny said questioningly, jumping slightly before turning around in her desk chair.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you, Jenny,” Donna told her, letting her gaze sweep over the fanned pile of papers. “I was just curious what you were up to. Something for tonight’s stargazing?”

“Oh!” Jenny said simply, snapping her gaze back to the pile of papers. Almost immediately, she slapped a hand over the papers, scrambling to sweep them up into her hands. “No. No, this… this is something else. Nothing important. Nothing to worry about.” She stuffed the papers into one of the books, and then, slammed both books shut. Prominently, she clutched them to her chest, before flashing a forced grin at Donna. “I thought I’d work on something, do some reading before stargazing with Wilf.”

Donna thought Jenny suddenly looked incredibly nervous, acting almost guilty of something. “Right,” she said slowly, fixing Jenny with a pointed look. She paused, giving Jenny a chance to speak, if there was something she wanted to say.

Jenny remained silent, gazing briefly at the books in her arms, while nibbling her lower lip.

Donna nodded, letting her gaze slowly lower towards her watch. “Well, you still have sometime before Granddad will be back from work, and I was hoping you and I could do something quick back at my mum’s place first. A bit of a surprise for you.” she explained, looking to Jenny. “Is that okay?”

Again, Jenny suddenly looked nervous. She swallowed a few times. “Susu... sure!” Jenny finally spoke up, “but you mind if I dropped this stuff off in my room on the way?”

“Sure,” Donna agreed, gesturing towards the doorway out of the TARDIS library.

Donna noticed that as they passed the Doctor, he never moved or glanced in recognition to them. That set off an alarm in Donna’s head. While Jenny continued to her room, Donna paused in the doorway, fixing the Doctor with a long stare. She waited, before calling out:

“We’ll be at my mum’s for a bit. I’m going to give her that surprise,” she said, emphasizing the last word.

The Doctor didn’t answer. His gaze never lifted. His posture never twitched in the slightest either. In fact, he seemed frozen, staring at the melted together building blocks in his hands with the sonic screwdriver clamped tightly between his lips still. Donna thought he looked as if he was purposefully trying not to look at her but at the same time was afraid to move. Coughing once, she hoped to get a reaction out of him. When that didn’t work, she added, “So, see you in fifteen then, Doctor.”

That’s when Donna noticed the subtlest of flicker of his eyes, focusing in her direction for less than a second. It seemed that he got the message.

oOo

_When it comes down to it, the whole TARDIS experience of late has been… what’s the word for it? Oh yeah, nerve-racking! It’s a bit mental and tiring. Still, it isn’t as if I’m complaining, not out forthright. I’m not saying that I don’t want to have a family of my own… one day. No, that isn’t the reason. It isn’t because I don’t like children. No, I love them! I’ve watched my cousins’ kids more than once over the years, and I wouldn’t mind necessarily being a mum one day… with the right bloke._

_The Doctor definitely isn’t the right bloke. There definitely is no ‘him and me,’ despite what my mum might suggest persistently. No, what bothers me is that I’m starting to get use to this little family, being a part of it. I’m starting to feel comfortable about being the ruler-maker, the levelheaded parent, the responsible one. In other words, I’m becoming my mum. That’s why I disliked all of it, and yet…_

oOo

“Donna,” Jenny called, sounding soft and distant, pulling Donna from her thoughts. “Donna!”

“Hmm?” Donna said questioningly, glancing away from the stacked content of her bedroom closet. She was currently kneeling in front of it, looking towards her bed. There sat Jenny, facing away from Donna with her hands covering her face. They were there because Donna had asked her not to peek. Donna was retrieving a surprise for Jenny: a gift.

“Sorry? Can you repeat that, Jenny?” Donna asked, titling her head to get a better view of Jenny’s covered face in the dresser mirror.

Jenny replied with a long series of almost completely inaudible noises.

Donna sighed, shaking her head. “Okay, you can take the hands down.”

Jenny complied and started to turn to face Donna.

“Oi!” Donna exclaimed, pointed an accusing finger at Jenny’s partially turned form. “I didn’t say you could turn around!”

Quick as lightening, Jenny snapped away, facing the dresser beside the bed. The slight blush on her cheeks was evident in the reflection of the dresser mirror. “Sorry,” Jenny apologized quickly, before coughing and continuing, “What I was trying to ask was if you found this surprise of yours yet?”

Donna placed her fists on her hips, fixing the mirror image of Jenny with a raised eyebrow. “Well, I see you’re just as impatient as your father,” Donna pointed out. When she saw Jenny’s gaze slowly lower sorrowfully, she sighed and added, “I’m ready when I’m ready. So don’t rush me, or you won’t get your surprise. Got that, Miss Time Lady?”

A new, amused smile formed on Jenny’s lips. She raised her gaze. It had a glint of mischievousness in it “Is it a good surprise?” Jenny asked rather innocently.

Donna couldn’t help the smirk curving her lips. “Yes,” she answered, turning back to the closest. There was a pause, while Donna removed a couple of piles of clothes onto some closest shelves.

“Is it alive?”Jenny asked slowly as Donna heard the bed creak.

Donna chuckled at the comment, remembering her granddad asking if Jenny’s dad allowed pets aboard the TARDIS the last time they were here. She recalled that Jenny had liked the idea of a puppy or kitty, but she’d never mentioned it to the Doctor. At the time that had puzzled Donna. Still, that wasn’t the only reason Donna was laughing. Donna recognized that creaking sound. She didn’t have to turn around to know the curious expression on Jenny’s face as she tried to sneak a peek of Donna’s surprise.

“No,” she replied as her smirk threatened to burst across her face. “And no peeking, Miss Time Lady!”

There was another, even louder, creak, followed by a huff. “Well, I don’t know why it is taking you so long to find it,” Jenny stated grumpily.

Donna sighed, knowing Jenny was right. There was nothing keeping her from pulling out the gift from its hiding place in her closet. There hadn’t been for the last ten minutes. The fact was that Donna was waiting for the Doctor. She was buying him time to sneak into the house and upstairs, so he could be here when Donna gave Jenny the gift, which she had purchased, her mum picked up, and Jenny’s father had first reminded Donna about getting. However, the few times she’d glanced back towards her bedroom door, Donna never noticed him or any movement that could have been him.

“I’ve been waiting here for more than ten minutes already,” Jenny whined.

“Yes, well,” Donna said, before sighing and lifting the last pile covering the gray plastic bag containing the gift, “lucky for you, I’ve just found it.” She decided she’d given the Doctor more than enough time. Either he was out there listening up or he wasn’t.

Donna lifted the bagged item into her arms, clutching it close. She hoped Jenny would like it as much the rest of them thought she would. Rising from her kneeling position in front of the closet, she moved around the bed to where Jenny sat. Then she took a seat next to the Doctor’s daughter.

Jenny instantly turned towards her with a huge grin. “What is it? What is it?” she asked excitedly, while her gaze bounced between Donna’s face and the bag in her arms.

Donna beamed a huge smile at Jenny, laying the bag into Jenny’s lap. “Just something we thought you needed and hoped you very much like,” Donna explained as Jenny went to work removing the item from the bag.

Jenny removed a carefully folded coat. Her mouth fell open. When Jenny shot up to her feet, completely shaking the coat out, the smooth leather exterior with five large, round buttons along the opening was visible. Almost like a fish, her mouth silently opened and closed, while she turned the coat this way and that. There was a moment when Jenny made a high-pitch squealing, and the next moment, Jenny pulled the coat on.

As she spun around, pulling back the material to look at the interior, Donna admired the coat’s material too. From the outside, it looked much like one of Donna’s coats. Both were leather, light brown, and cut off just above the knee. Still, the inside was different from Donna’s coat. It was made of a warm, slightly fluffy fleece lining that was soft to the touch. Jenny made another squealing noise as she hugged herself in the coat. A giant grin burst across her face as she squeezed her eyes shut.

“I take it that means you like it then?” Donna asked, very amused at how Jenny showed off her coat.

Jenny snapped right towards Donna, still beaming her brilliant smile. “Oh, yes, yes!” she exclaimed, springing forward to give Donna a hug. “Oh, thank you, thank you. Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome,” Donna replied, hugging Jenny back. When Jenny pulled away and moved to Donna’s dresser mirror to admire herself, Donna’s gaze followed her.

“Oh, I can’t believe you got this for me,” Jenny said cheerfully, giggling as she swished her hips from side to side. The corners of her jacket waved about her. “It’s perfect! Not too big, easy to move around in, not too colourful. I love it!”

“So I get,” Donna said, chuckling. “We thought it suited you.”

That’s when Donna noticed in the reflection of the mirror a small movement near the opened bedroom door behind Donna and Jenny. Donna thought it looked like a mess of spiky, brown hair just disappearing from sight. It made her smirk.

Coughing, Donna lowered her head briefly and said as casually as she could, “All of us thought you’d like it, in fact. Me... Mum... and your father.” Her gaze slowly rose. She saw Jenny standing motionless in the dresser mirror, staring back at Donna in the mirror as Jenny’s hands clutched absentmindedly at her coat’s lapels. Her eyes were wide and mouth gapping opened.

“My... my dad?” Jenny asked, sounding surprised and a bit curious. She turned sharply towards Donna “My... my dad helped to get this... for me?”

“Of course,” Donna said cheerfully, patting the bed spread next to her. “In fact, it was your dad that reminded me that you needed a coat.”

Jenny plopped down next to Donna, still gapping at her. Her chin bobbed up and down for a moment. “He did?” she asked as her voice jumped in tone a bit. “Why? How? I don’t understand.”

“Why?” Donna said repeated, “Well, he’s your dad.”

“And parents never stop caring for their children... even if they drive them crazy or upset them?” Jenny said questioningly and slowly.

“Well, your dad, I’m sure would be the type,” Donna replied, sighing, “As for how, well, that’s a story in itself that started the last time we visited my mum and granddad.”

oOo

Donna and the Doctor were strolling side by side down Cheswick Road. Each of them had their arms full of grocery bags. She had been talking to him about the latest gossip she’d heard from her mum and granddad on the new Prime Minister and his cabinet. All of a sudden, the Doctor stopped in step in front of a wide, shop window and turned towards it. She remembered doing a double take when she realised the Doctor was no longer walking beside her.

“Doctor?” she called, adjusting her hold on the bags in her arms. “What is it? Don’t tell me you’ve spotted some new alien threat.” She’d laughed, but when he didn’t immediately answer, Donna feared her jaunt might be more accurate than she’d anticipated.

Stepping up beside him, she gazed into the lit window. A line of headless mannequins stared back at her. They were still, lining the front window dressed up in various autumn styles from long coats to two-piece skirts and jumpers. Beyond the mannequins there were a few customers browsing through racks and shelves of clothing within the store.

Donna again turned towards the Doctor. He furrowed his brow, appearing to be in deep thought. His mouth was tightly drawn, but not into a frown. It was more like a straight line as if he couldn’t decide whether to smile or to grimace. “What’s wrong, Doctor?” Donna asked softly, worried he’s answer would be something along the lines of ‘shop-window dummies coming to life... run!’ Yet, what he did say was even more surprising.

“She doesn’t have a coat,” the Doctor suddenly mumbled.

Donna’s eyes narrowed and her mouth gaped open for a moment. “What?!”

Just then, the Doctor’s gaze snapped in her direction. “Hmm, sorry what were you saying, Donna?”

“Me? You were the one mumbling about someone not having a coat,” Donna spat, giving him a critical look.

The Doctor took a step back from her with raised eyebrows. “Really? Was I? Oh, didn’t realise I...” he said quickly, starting to step away from the window.

Donna snapped a full arm of bags out, blocking the Doctor’s retreating path. “Oi! Now stop it right there, Spaceman. You’re not just going to brush this off,” Donna told him. “Now who’s ‘she?’”

The Doctor’s mouth opened and closed a few times before he turned away from her again. A long drawn out sigh fell from his lips before he answered. “I was just thinking of Jenny,” he said softly. Donna followed his gaze, realising he was looking at a series of thigh length coats on four shop dummies on a centre stand inside. “She... she doesn’t have a coat,” he added, sounding very sad. “I just remembered.”

“Oh,” Donna said, her brown eyes widening. “Oh! Yes, you’re right.” She looked at him with surprise. “You noticed?”

“Oi!” Doctor said angrily, snapping his gaze back towards her. “Of course, I notice. What kind of father wouldn’t?”

Donna dipped her head, trying to smother the smirk on her lips.

“What?!” the Doctor said disgruntled. “What’s so funny about noticing?”

“It’s not that. It’s just...” Donna tried to say through snorts of laughter, “...most human men don’t notice what a girl wears.”

A smug formed on the Doctor’s lips. “Yeah, but I’m not a human man.”

“No, you aren’t, Spaceman,” Donna said, gently elbowing the mass of bags covering the Doctor’s chest. “Lucky us, eh?” She winked at him, stepping past him and towards the shop’s front door.

“Donna, where are you going?” the Doctor called after her.

Donna turned a grinning glance back towards him, pausing briefly in the doorway. “Well, to see how much it is, Dumbo. Like you said, Jenny needs a coat, and I already know this place has very good coats. I’ve gotten a few here myself.” She winked once more, before disappearing inside.

 

oOo

 

Jenny just gawked at Donna as she retold the story. When Donna finished, Jenny’s gaze drifted off. Her mouth still hung open, and her eyes were wide. She was ever the picture of shocked.

“What?” Donna said questioningly. “He isn’t that thick, at least when it concerns you. Don’t you think he thinks of you and what you need?”

“I... I don’t know... if... what he might think,” Jenny stammered, swallowing a few times. Donna noticed moisture in Jenny’s eyes. “I... I don’t really know him at all... really. So... so I can’t even imagine...”

Donna reached out a hand, placing it comfortingly on Jenny’s shoulder. “Jenny, I doubt there’s anyone in time and space who knows your father completely. He’s got to be the most inexplicable bloke in existence. I mean, blimey, he goes by the blooming Doctor. What kind of name is that?”

Jenny lifted her glistening gaze back towards Donna. “See! I didn’t know that. I thought it was his name.”

Donna chuckled. “What parent in their right mind would name their child ‘the Doctor?’ I mean, come on!” she said pointedly, before pausing.

A sad sigh fell from her lips, considering the mysterious alien man. Ever since the terrifying events in the Racnoss nest, Donna had known the Doctor held much deep-rooted sorrow inside. There was pain even beyond losing Rose that too often consumed his thoughts. He probably used the name Doctor as a barrier between the pain the universe threw at him and the real him.

“It’s what he’s used to keep himself safe from being hurt, probably,” Donna told Jenny, before smiling at Jenny. “But that’s why he needs you. Something good in his life. Someone he can talk to more openly than he’s probably talked to anyone else in a long time.”

“We need each other, you mean, Donna,” Jenny stated more than asked with moist, blue eyes.

“Yes,” Donna replied, “and let’s face it, you’ll probably keep him out of unnecessary trouble.” She gently nudged Jenny, grinning at her. “Be his mature half.”

Jenny chuckled at that, wiping her eyes with her left coat sleeve. She sniffled. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

“I dare to say, you’re the most important person in his life,” Donna said, wrapping an arm around Jenny’s shoulders.

“I suppose,” Jenny responded, sniffling a bit. “I just wish...” She stopped, sighing and shaking her head in frustration.

“What?” Donna asked softly, lowering her arm but scooting a bit closer to Jenny.

“I just wished I knew what’s the right thing to say to him, how to act with him. Sometimes he can be just so frustrating to be around,” Jenny complained, groaning as she covered her face. In a bit of a muffled voice she continued. “Sometimes I think it’s all jokes and quips between us.” She sighed, running her hands through her blonde bangs. “Other times, I feel like I’m a soldier again, and he expects me to be following orders or else.” Again, she sighed, throwing her head back to stare at the ceiling. “Still, other times... it’s like, I don’t know... as if... he’s expecting me to be someone else.” Jenny fell back on to the Donna’s bed, sighing deeply “Except, I don’t know who this person is I should be or he wishes I was.”

“Have you told him this, Jenny?” Donna asked, leaning her head towards Jenny, “Tried asking him...”

“How?!” Jenny exclaimed, even as her voice broke slightly. Her left sleeve returned to her nose. “I don’t know how to. Even if I did, I don’t want to hurt him again. I tried once or twice when we snuck off to the Museum of Lost History, but... every time I tried... I saw the pain it causes him.” She made a noise that sounded like a mixture between a chuckle and a sniffle. Donna saw Jenny place a hand over her chest, a place between her hearts. “In fact, sometimes I think I can feel his pain as if it is radiating off him in great big waves of anguish.”

Donna watched sadly, while Jenny spilled her guts. She wasn’t completely sure how to make Jenny feel better. Instead, she briefly glanced towards her bedroom door, hoping that the Doctor would take that as a chance to step in, but nothing. As per usual, he was taking the coward’s way out of the domestic stuff in life. Donna could have slapped him, but she opted to hopefully inspire him to act.

“Jenny, if you could tell him this right now...” Donna started to ask.

“I told you,” Jenny said, pushing herself up on to her elbows. Her slightly red eyes fixed Donna with a pointed look.

“I know, I know,” Donna said with several head nods. “But, if you could without feeling and seeing that pain... What would you say to him?”

Jenny’s head tilted forward. Her chin rested for a silent moment on her sternum. There was a determined and thoughtful look in her blue eyes. “I suppose,” she said, swallowing a few times before continuing. “I suppose I’d tell him that it doesn’t matter to me... who he is or was. That while he drives me sparse a lot and scares me to death sometimes, none of it matters to me. I don’t care. He’s my dad. I might not ever completely understand him or where he’s coming from, but it means a lot to me that he’s here. That he’ll always be here, and I hope he feels the same.”

Just then, there was a noise in the hallway. Donna grinned, believing the Doctor had finally bitten the bullet and was about to talk to Jenny. Instead, a moment later, granddad’s voice rang out, “Jenny, you ready to head out?”

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Jenny said, snapping to her feet again. She moved swiftly to the mirror, checking her face and eyes out.

“Right,” Donna agreed, sighing and shaking her head. She watched Jenny wipe her eyes with a facial tissue from her dresser. The Doctor’s daughter stared back at her in the mirror. “Thanks again, Donna, for everything.”

“Don’t mention it,” Donna replied, watching at Jenny zipped past her. She sat alone on her bed as the tail end of Jenny’s coated form vanished out her bedroom door. She smiled, feeling glad she gave Jenny a chance to open up, but at the same time, she was frustrated with the Doctor’s lack of action.

It made her wonder if she’d been mistaken and the Doctor wasn’t outside; perhaps, she’d imagined it or she’d just seen her granddad. That idea faltered when less than a second later she heard the sound of the bathroom door down from her bedroom opening with a squeak. Donna’s brow furrowed. Another second passed, the Doctor appeared in the bedroom doorway. He was gazing down the direction Jenny had gone.

Donna fixed him with one of her patented ‘I’m so going to slap you’ glares. As quickly as that glare appeared on her face, it vanished with one look into the Doctor’s mournful brown eyes. She saw this horrible grim look on his face. That’s when she realised she couldn’t do anything to make him feel worse than he felt at that moment.

“Want a piece of advice, Doctor?” Donna asked, rising to her feet.

 The Doctor made the slightest of head nods.

 “Don’t just stand there,” she told him, fixing him with a serious glare. “Get after her!”

 His face turned towards her with a hint of a smile starting to break through his grim expression.

 “Oh, go on with you already,” Donna urged him, while a smile spread over her face, “Doctor.”

 That hint of smile burst across his face. The Doctor nodded enthusiastically and said, “Thank you.” The next moment, he hurried off after Jenny.

 “At last!” she exclaimed, throwing her arm in the air.  
  


 

_To be continued..._


	4. ... With Hot Cocoa

The Doctor knew he had hesitated long enough.  
  
“Better to live in the second,” he said to himself, heading towards the front door. “In the next... they might be gone... have forgotten you... died.”  
  
The words caught in his throat. Placing his palms flat against the Noble’s front door, he fought the prickling tears. So many voices thundered in his head, calling out his name.  
  
“Doctor!” Sylvia interrupted them all, like only she could. Opening his moist eyes, he caught her reflection in the small, hallway mirror. She stood in the archway to the kitchen with a frown on her face and a dish towel twisted in her fists. “Where do you think you’re going?”  
  
One of his hands slid instinctively down the door to its knob. He could feel the urge to run. Instead, gripping the doorknob tightly, he glanced over his shoulder at her. His lips parted, but all he managed was one word, “Out.”  
  
Sylvia added a narrowed glare to her frowning expression. “Oh? What precisely do you plan on doing ‘out’, Doctor?”  
  
Just the sharp tone of her voice should have left him even more reluctant and ready to run, but for once, it didn’t. He found her question drove his thoughts back on track, making him smile. He let go of the doorknob and turned to face her. “Me?” he asked simply.  
  
“What are you smiling at, you daft man?” Sylvia asked angrily, glaring at him. She crossed her arms over her chest. “You better not be planning to disappear with Donna and Jennifer again.”  
  
“Oh, no, no, Sylvia,” he replied reassuringly, before pausing. “Well... at least I don’t think so.” He leaned back against the front door with a thoughtful grin. “Well, most likely not. Though... never can tell when the need might arise, you know.” He shook his head with a chuckle.  
  
When his gaze again met hers, he saw she wasn’t laughing. “Doctor...” she said with a harsh tone.  
  
The Doctor waved her off. “Kidding, Sylvia, I assure you my plans aren’t that. They’re something else... something I should have done a long time ago.”  
  
Sylvia raised a criticizing eyebrow as if silently demanding him to elaborate. He didn’t. He just winked knowingly at her, before turning and leaving the house.  
  


oOo

  
  
Jenny buried her hands in the pockets of her new coat. She was fighting off the bitter chill in the air. It rustled her loose hair and nipped at her face. Still, she continued up the hill side.  
  
There were tears glistening in her eyes. She told herself it was due to the chill, but she knew better. Her father was still consuming her thoughts thanks to Donna’s words. Jenny still found them hard to believe.  
  
Her throat tightened with emotions, threatening to bubble forth. She fought them back down, swallowing the lump in her throat. “Dad...”  
  
“Hurry up, Kiddo!” called Wilf from the top of the hill, interrupting her thoughts.  
  
Shaking her head, Jenny called back, “Coming!” She drew in a few more deep breaths, trying to bring her emotions under control again. There would be time for all of this later. Right now, there were happier things, such as meteor showers, to think about.  
  
“We have some setting up to do before it starts!” he added, calling out to her.  
  
Not hesitating again, Jenny hurried to reach the top of the hill. Slowly, Wilf’s mostly empty allotment came into view: a grassy area with a single, curtain-covered shed and a small worn patch on the ground. She saw Wilf heading away from the shed with an armload of blankets.  
  
“Do you need some help with those?” she asked, following after him.  
  
He stopped in stride, glancing back towards her with a grin. “I’m good,” he replied, before nodding back towards the shed, “but if you want to help, could you get my chair?”  
  
“I’m on it,” she said, already moving to the shed.  
  
“Oh!” he added. “Jenny, could you also see if you spot an old tarp in there too? The ground’s still a bit damp from yesterday’s downpour. I think we might need to put the tarp down first.”  
  
“All right!” she called back. Gazing into the shed, she quickly spotted the chair folded up neatly in the corner. As she removed it, she also spotted an old, brown tarp underneath. Retrieving both, she headed over to Wilf.  
  
Wilf placed the blankets on top of the telescope case, before turning towards her. “Good, good,” he said, taking his folded chair from her and placing it beside the pile of blankets. “Now, let’s get this tarp down.” Taking one end of the tarp, he helped her to place it over the worn patch in the grass.  
  
“So how much longer, Wilf?” she asked, straightening her side of the tarp.  
  
“Soon,” he replied, turning towards the blankets and chair. “Sometime in the hour, I’d say.” He handed her a few blankets.  
  
“I was surprised you wanted to see them again,” Jenny said, while laying out a couple of the blankets. The rest she kept folded on the tarp for later use. “Even just for me.”  
  
“I haven’t been able to see them yet,” he explained with a frown. “The last two nights have been heavily overcast. It’s been impossible to make out a single star, much less a meteoroid. Tonight will be the first clear sky and my telescope should provide a decent view. I dare say it should be a stunning sight!”  
  
“Glad to hear it,” Jenny commented, finding her gaze drifting upwards. A huge grin spread across her face. She spotted the first few stars appearing in the darkening sky. Only the faintest hint of the setting sun’s warm colours were visible out over the view of the city of London. “Beautiful!”  
  
The sound of Wilf’s chuckle filled her ears. She glanced in his direction. He was already seated in his canvas chair. “Oh, I certainly agree with you,” he said, briefly glancing in her direction, “but you must see much more impressive stuff on your travels.”  
  
Jenny shrugged as warmth flooded her face. “Yeah, I suppose,” she said with a shrug, “but... but sometimes it’s the simple beauties that are the most memorable. That and the company during them.”  
  
Wilf chuckled. “Too true, kiddo,” agreed Wilf, leaning back in his chair. “Company makes it all the better. He then rubbed his gloved hands together. “Of course, it would nice if it was a bit warmer, eh?”  
  
Laughter breezed past her lips, causing a small white puff of condensation to form. “Yeah. I can agree with you on that.”  
  
He gave her a warm smile, while opening the telescope case. “Say, would you mind pouring a cuppa for me from the thermos, Kiddo?”  
  
“Sure, where’s it” she replied.  
  
Wilf pointed in her direction. “I think I left it with the cups near the shed.”  
  
Looking that direction, she spotted the long, silver container with two plastic cups attached to it. “Okay,” she said, hurrying over and picking them up. “Some tea coming right up.”  
  
The sound of Wilf sniggering loudly drew her attention back to him.  
  
“What? What’s so funny?” she inquired.  
  
“If you’re expecting tea, Kiddo,” Wilf said, still laughing, “then you’ll be sorely disappointed.”  
  
Glancing briefly at the thermos now in her hands, she asked, “Why’s that?”  
  
Wilf turned in his canvas chair with a smug look. “Because it isn’t tea,” he said merrily, giving her a rascally wink.  
  
Lifting an eyebrow, Jenny started back towards him. “No?” she said questioningly. “Then, what is it?”  
  
“Cocoa,” he said proudly. There was a smug look on his face. “Deliciously rich, hot cocoa. The good stuff.”  
  
Jenny’s eyes widened. “Really?” she asked, gawking at the thermos. A chuckle fell from her lips as they curved into a half smile. “How’d you manage to sneak that out past Nan?”  
  
“Hey, hey! You should know better, Kiddo. A soldier never gives away his best secrets,” he said in a serious tone. She noticed a twinkle in his eyes.  
  
“Of course,” she stated in agreement. “Us soldiers have to be smarter than the enemy.” Opening the thermos, a mushroom of heat rose from the top and skirted across her cold face. The rich, mouth-watering aroma hit her senses. She was already imagining the creamy, dark liquid on her tongue. Her eyes slid shut, while the aroma continued to tickle her senses.  
  
Suddenly, a shiver ran over her shoulders. Jenny quickly realised it wasn’t due to the warmth tickling her face. She felt as if she was being watched.  
  
Stopping in place, she took in her surroundings. Wilf was busy with his telescope. The gentle wind rustled most of the surrounding bushes. Giving a glance behind her, the natural path was empty. There was no one else insight. Scanning more deeply, she sought out any hint of movement or the glint from a weapon. The closest thing she saw was on quick, abnormally rustling branch to her left.  
  
Slowly, she edged back towards Wilf. If there was something dangerous nearby, she had to be ready to act and defend Donna’s grandfather. She hoped it was nothing.  
  


oOo

  
  
Donna would probably say he was being overconfident, a bit full of himself. She would probably be right. Still, he would probably ask, why not? After all, he was finally taking action, doing what Donna had asked him to do: go after Jenny and tell her.  
  
Now, he was climbing the incline up to Wilf’s allotment. He had planned on his words to the letter. He would tell her the answers she carved. He would explain why he’d acted the way he’d done. He would clearly set new guidelines for them. Jenny would be safe and happy. Above all else, he’d make sure she understood just how much he cared about her.  
  
Even as the allotment came into view, he felt self-assured. When he gaze fell upon Jenny, he wanted to call out to her. That’s where he stumbled to an abrupt halt.  
  
An overwhelming wave of uncomfortable thoughts stuck him, kicked him in the gut. He lost his footing as his stomach did a rapid concession of flips before dropping out. With hast, he scrambled behind some of the bushes lining the allotment.  
  
Every muscle in his body trembled. He tried to bring his mind back into some order. He couldn’t believe he was acting this way. This was Jenny, not some Dalek out to kill him. Yet, right now, he would have preferred the Dalek over his own daughter. That thought made his stomach twist with disgust.  
  
Shaking the thought from his head, he took a chance to peer through a small gap in the bushes. He spotted Jenny. She had stopped in step and gripped tightly to the opened thermos. With a furrowed brow, her gaze slowly moved across her surroundings. Pulling back a few branches, he tried to see what had caught her attention. Only when Jenny’s gaze suddenly snapped in his direction did the Doctor realise that he rustled the bushes.  
  
Quickly, the Doctor let go of the branches and stood perfectly still, hoping he hadn’t been spotted. That was his second barmy thought in the last several minutes. He was here to see her. The words ‘idiot’ and ‘fool’ became a taunting mantra in his head, even as he dared to peer through the tiny gap in the bush again.  
  
Much to his relieve, Jenny was no longer looking intently in his direction. Instead, she was walking towards Wilf again.  
  
The Doctor released a shuddering breath. His mountain of confidence was all but gone. Despite a desire to retreat back to the TARDIS, he wasn’t going to run away. He stayed planted behind those bushes, intently watching Jenny and Wilf in their small, domestic interactions. When Jenny returned Wilf’s broad smile, the Doctor remembered why he was here.  
  
“This second,” the Doctor said softly, “not the next or another... Not again”  
  
That’s when Wilf exclaimed loudly, rising from his canvas chair, “Ah ha! That’s brilliant idea, Kiddo!”  
  
The Doctor was surprised. While he’d been watching and thinking, he hadn’t really been listening. Now, he wondered what he’d missed, what had they been talking about that would excite Wilf?  
  
“But, what if she suspects?” Jenny asked, before taking a sip of the steaming content in her small, white cup. “As you said, Nan is very watchful of her biscuits. You said never cross the general on her turf and all that.”  
  
“Nan?” softly asked the Doctor, trying to figure out who Jenny was referring to. He was her only parent technically, and he no longer had a mum. For a moment, he wondered if she was referring to Donna, but brushed that aside when he realised Donna would never allow anyone refer to her as ‘Nan’.  
  
“Ah!” Wilf said with a smug look. He winked at Jenny, raising a finger. “But this old soldier still has his tricks. Remember? Besides, if she asks, I’ll just say they’re for you!”  
  
Jenny grinned, nodding enthusiastically. “Yeah, that might work! I’m fine with that, Wilf,” she said, moving to his side, “but are you sure you don’t want me to go? I could...”  
  
“Nah, it’s good for me. My legs are feeling a bit stiff, so the walk will do me good,” Wilf told her, guiding her to his chair. She seemed to reluctantly take a seat. Her gaze was intently trained on the older man. “Besides, there’s still time before the show starts. It will be much better with a tin of biscuits, don’t you think?”  
  
A broad grin spread across Jenny’s face. “Sure! I couldn’t agree more.”  
  
“That’s my girl,” Wilf said with a chuckle, taking a few steps back from her. “You wait here, Kiddo! I’ll be back in a few ticks.”  
  
The Doctor watched silently as Wilf moved passed him without notice. When Wilf was out of sight, the Doctor realised his opportunity had come. However, the will keeping him from running also kept him from approaching Jenny. Swallowing a large lump in his throat, the Doctor looked back at Jenny through the gap in the bushes. She was gazing up at the starry gaze with a far off look, hugging her coat tightly around herself. He would have paid anything to know what she was thinking.  
  
Then, the Doctor remembered he could. There was the faint but lucid telepathic connection between him and Jenny. Ever since the Museum of Lost History, he felt the flicker of that connection. However, he wavered on whether to draw upon it, even fearing to dwell on Jenny’s surface thoughts and emotions.  
  
On Gallifrey, it wasn’t uncommon for parents to be almost constantly aware of their offspring’s thoughts and emotions. That was until the child was able to block them. Even then, some officials continued to keep track of certain Gallifreyans. This was something Doctor had unfortunately learned first-hand.  
  
Of course, since Jenny appeared unaware of the connection, she didn’t even try to block him. Her surface thoughts and emotions were for the taking. Therefore, it wouldn’t be like he had to do much besides open his mind and concentrate on Jenny. He wouldn’t even force his way to her deeper thoughts.  
  
Still, he didn’t want to push. This wasn’t Gallifrey, after all. He wasn’t his father or Borusa. At the same time, the Doctor needed to know and Jenny would eventually have to learn to use and control this telepathic ability. Allowing the connection would provide that opportunity.  
  
Despite his continued apprehension, the Doctor began. Drawing a long breath, he said, “I promise only the surface thoughts, Jenny. Nothing more. I won’t invade your privacy.”  
  
Another long breath was drawn in as he closed his eyes and focused on Jenny. Just like that, a flare of sensations and thoughts rushed forward. Her mind on the surface was a swirl of momentary pleasures and concerns:  
  
_My new coat is so nice and warm. I really love it!  
Burr, the wind really bites at my neck.  
I sure hope Wilf is okay in this cold temperature, walking all the way back... alone  
Hopefully, Wilf be safe... unless that presence I felt earlier was some danger, maybe I should have... no, I’m being silly. Father said it was safe on Earth... well, safer.  
Still, I would never forgive myself if something happened to Wilf.  
I hope he comes back safely and soon... with those scrumptious banana flavoured biscuits.  
Biscuits would go great with this delicious hot cocoa  
It’s so warm and rich! Just perfect!  
I don’t know why humans don’t drink it as often as that awful chalky coffee._  
  
The Doctor couldn’t help but silently chuckle at the randomness but clarity of her thoughts. She was more like him than he thought possible. Beyond these sensations, the Doctor could hear her analysing the telescope:  
  
_I wonder how it works.  
How did Wilf construct it or did it come that way?  
Does it work like the equipment on the TARDIS or the equipment used by the colonists on Messaline?  
How does it compare to those?  
I wonder if father has one that I could try on board the TARDIS?_  
  
That’s when he saw an idealise image of himself in her mind. He blushed at the towering, confident, and beaming form of himself. Sure, he knew he was amazing, but seeing it through the eyes of another was incomprehensible to him.  
  
_Dad... how will I ever live up to you?  
The great Doctor... champion of justice and good across the known universe and all of time.  
Protector of innocents and healer of the downtrodden...  
Maybe I’ve already failed you.  
Maybe you’ve known all along that I wasn’t up to being your daughter.  
I don’t have the vast knowledge that you do.  
I don’t know how to make the best decisions.  
I’m just... some soldier without a battle to fight or a leader to follow.  
I’ll never be as good as you..._  
  
A wave of painful emotions rushed forth. They stabbed at his hearts as he felt her frustration and self-doubt because of him. It further revitalized his determination to act.  
  
Suddenly, he heard Jenny calling out in a questioning tone, “Dad?”  
  
The Doctor gasped. His eyes flew open and his hearts sped up at hearing her refer to him by the parental name. Then, they skipped another beat when he realised not only had he heard her with his ears but also inside of his head. Through the small gap in the bushes, he saw Jenny staring in his direction. His lips moved silently.  
  
A subtle shudder flickered across the telepathic connection. He couldn’t believe he had missed the sensation until now. Whether conscious or not, she had felt him. It made him grin like a fool.  
  
“Is that you?” she called out again, rising from the canvas chair.  
  
Straightening himself upright, he solidified his resolve. Moving without hesitance, he stepped into view. “We really need to stop meeting in these dark corners, Jenny!”  
  
For an instant, a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. Jenny looked about to say something in return. There was a long breath, but nothing.  
  
The Doctor could see many questions flickering in her eyes, but there was also hesitance there. She was too much like him. That was becoming much clearer to him now. Burying his hands in his overcoat pockets, he beamed a huge grin in her direction and chose a subject:  
  
“Anything of particular interest you looking out for tonight?”  
  
“What?” questioningly said Jenny with raised eyebrows.  
  
It was a trivial question, probably an unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Still, hopefully, it was just what they needed to break the ice. A question Jenny could easily answer. He wanted her relaxed, not be on the defensive. Her thoughts gave away her uneasy.  
  
The Doctor raised an eyebrow and nodded in the direction of the telescope. Hesitantly, she glanced behind her. “Oh! You mean with the telescope,” she stated, looking back at him with a part smile. “Yes! We’re waiting for a meteor shower! Wilf said it should be a spectacular sight!”  
  
“A meteor show,” he said casually, drawing out the word as if tasting it. He puffed out his lower lip, putting on a thoughtful expression. “That sounds nice. Probably a stunning sight, particularly if some of them make it deep enough into the Earth’s atmosphere. Of course, that will depend on which group of...”  
  
He noticed Jenny raised a questioning eyebrow, so he stopped talking. She cocked her head to one side, narrowing her eyes. The connection between them flickered ever so slightly.  
  
Instead of using it to communicate, he verbally asked, “What?”  
  
“And you know a lot about meteor showers, do you?” she asked skeptical back.  
  
He flashed a huge grin. “Pretty much,” he replied with a smug expression. “I am a genius you know.”  
  
Something of a cross between a scoff and chuckle fell from Jenny’s lip. She rolled her eyes, briefly averting her gaze and shaking her head.  
  
“Oi!” he exclaimed, pulling a hand out and gesturing to himself. “I’ve done and seen more than you can imagine, been everywhere. Well, nearly everywhere. Well, anywhere of real interest... really.” He sniffed and pushed out his lower lip, thinking about his past regenerations. “Well, at least my experiences reach into nearly everything you can imagine.”  
  
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her eyes narrow. As before, he felt the telepathic connection flicker as if she was trying to utilize it to gauge his thoughts and feelings. For someone so inexperienced, she wasn’t doing half bad, but he was sure she probably was barely even able to clearly pick up his surface thoughts. Still, he wondered what she was picking up from him and for how long.  
  
“Does that include when you were a soldier?” Jenny inquired, pulling him out of his musings.  
  
The Doctor’s gaze snapped squarely on to Jenny. He promptly snapped his mouth shut, tightening his lips into a deep frown. Furrowing his brow he mentally willed Jenny to change the subject. Dwelling on his past wasn’t the point of this conversation, particularly concerning the Time War. It wasn’t important concerning her, and even if he did one day talk about it, today was not that day.  
  
Jenny sighed. Her eyes widened as she crossed her arms over her chest. “And here you go on the tight lip routine... again.”  
  
The Doctor widened his eyes, letting his eyebrows jump up his forehead. Cocking his head to one side, he carefully asked, “What’s that suppose to mean?”  
  
“Oh, come off, Dad!” she said firmly with a hard look back at him. “I know why you came out here. You…”  
  
“What!?” exclaimed the Doctor, interrupting her. His mouth gaped open for a moment, before he snapped it shut. “I... I don’t know what... how?”  
  
Jenny tapped the side of her head. “I felt you here. I heard… well, I think I heard you say, you wanted to talk, have a discussion with me.”  
  
Despite himself, the Doctor felt his jaw loosen and gaped for a brief moment.  
  
“But a discussion is two-way,” Jenny continued, giving an accusing look, “And whenever something gets too personal for you, you go all quiet before trying to change the subject.”  
  
“I do not!” the Doctor said defensively, even though mentally he was thinking about how correct she was.  
  
Jenny blurted out a roar of laughter. “See you even agree with me, despite not wanting to openly admit it.”  
  
Grumbling to himself, the Doctor suddenly remembered the pitfalls of unguarded telepathic connections. Shutting his eyes, he began to build up his walls, to block Jenny out. Like a series of bricks, he solidified it only stopping short when he felt hand squeeze his right arm.  
  
“No! Please don’t do that,” Jenny said in a panicked voice.  
  
The Doctor’s eyes slowly opened to her terrified expression.  
  
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she said. Her voice reflected the tight grip on his arm. “Please don’t block me out, not completely. I won’t try digging deeper. I just… I…”  
  
He saw her throat tighten. There was a quick repeated flicker through the telepathic connection between them. Unlike the last several, this one was not seeking out information as much delivering a message: Jenny was terrified of being alone. He knew this feeling all too well.  
  
With a sigh, he slightly lowered his mental defences, just enough to let her touch his surface thoughts.  
  
That brought a smile to her face. “Thank you,” she said simply at first. Letting go of his arm, she turned away for a moment. He noticed her wipe tears from her eyes. “I’m guessing this is all news to you. The telepathic connection and me… tapping into it.”  
  
“Somewhat,” he admitted simply, using the telepathic connection to feel her out.  
  
Her gaze lifted to the sky. “I’ll admit I was confused the first few times I felt the telepathic link, kind of scared actually.”  
  
“Well, it’s not uncommon with female Gallifreyans to have a natural telepathic ability as well as being highly sensitive to telepathy of others,” he said, trying to explain to her and himself as well about how she knew. “Of course, not growing up...”  
  
She glanced over her shoulder, flashing knowing smile. “Yes, I know.”  
  
The Doctor’s eyebrows rose up his forward, walking closer. “You... know? What do you mean?”  
  
“I read up on it,” she explained, turning completely back towards him. “One of the times I was exploring the library in the TARDIS, I came across a these Gallifreyan biology books. They were very insightful, once I got past the technical...”  
  
“Wait, what?” the Doctor said questioningly, closing the distance between them. “You’ve been reading books... in the TARDIS library... written in Gallifreyan?”  
  
She gave him a few long head nod, while widening her eyes. “Yeah.”  
  
“But... but that’s impossible!” he stated, running a hand along the back of his neck. His mind spun, trying to figure how what Jenny said was possible. “I removed those protocols lifetimes ago. It should be impossible for anyone not knowing Gallifreyan to read those books, so how could you?”  
  
“Maybe the TARDIS fixed them,” Jenny suggested with a shrug. “I don’t know.” She sighed, taking a seat in the canvas chair. “Look the point is... you wanted to talk. Well, so do I.”  
  
The Doctor turned his attention back to her. His hands fell to his side. For the moment, the mystery about the translation circuits was forgotten. “You do?”  
  
“Yeah,” she said, looking up at him expectantly. “There are... you know... things I’d like to know, questions only you can... well, answer.”  
  
“Fair,” he said simply, before looking down at the tarp and blanket covered ground. Briefly considering the ground, he took a seat beside her chair. He clasped his hands under his chin. “So... go on! Since you seem to be the one with questions, why do you want to start?”  
  
Jenny looked truly surprised.  
  
That made him grin. “What? You think I was going to be all controlling of the conversation?”  
  
“Actually, yes,” she admitted with a half smile.  
  
“Hey!” he said, throwing his hands up before him. “I can be just as quiet and patient as the next bloke.”  
  
There was a snort of amusement from Jenny. She stared incredulously at him with a raised eye.  
  
“I can be! I can be!” he confirmed with a few sharp head nods. Then he smirked at her, poking her gently in the stomach a few times. “Give me a bit of credit. At least I try to be quiet and patient, how about you, Little Miss ‘Shoot Them Up Before Trying a Bit of Diplomacy’.”  
  
“Hey, being a bit rude again, are we?!” she stated sternly.  
  
“Yeah,” he said simply, grinning at her. “What’s your point?”  
  
A small smirk crept across her face. “Just saying,” she told him, glancing briefly towards the telescope. For a second, they sat in silence. He watched her as she fingered one of the rotating dials. She looked distracted, but he felt the subtle flicker along the telepathic connection and how her eyes occasionally wavered in his direction. Then, she quickly looked at him with a more serious expression. “Besides, I’m a soldier, not a...”  
  
“No, you’re not!” he said defiantly, cutting her off. He pointed squarely at her face. “You might have the memories and information necessary for combat, even able to fire a gun in defence of others... But you are not a soldier!” He blew out a hurried breath.  
  
“Why?” she asked angrily. The telepathic connection suddenly crackled with her anger.  
  
“Jenny,” he answered firmly, “you know nothing about a real battle, especially the consequences and suffering a soldier faces.”  
  
“Hey! I’ve fought a war,” she spat, glaring back at him. “Maybe it wasn’t anywhere as near as grand as your Time War, but it was a war... two factions fighting to survive.”  
  
The Doctor cringed slightly when she mentioned the Time War. The memories of lifetimes ago flashed at the forefront of his mind. Screams of agony and flashes of death burned across his hearts. That whole event wasn’t worth being called ‘grand’. No one should be admiring or honouring it.  
  
“Sorry,” Jenny said apologetically. Her head dripped, while she sighed deeply.  
  
“No,” the Doctor said through tightly drawn lips. Blowing out a breath, he forced himself to look at Jenny. Her gaze had returned to be focused on him.  
  
He could no sooner escape the Time War than he could parenthood. In an ironic way, they were tied together. His only hope was that the former would help to resolve an issue with the latter. Something good coming out of the end of his world would be nice at last.  
  
“But you have to understand, Jenny,” he explained, fixing her with a stern stare “your war was barely a week long, beyond minuet to what most beings have known. And you barely lived through even it.” Pausing to swallow the lump in his throat, he took his time to continue. “You were involved in it for... maybe half a day. That’s such an insignificant portion of the greater conflict. How would you feel fighting and suffering after weeks, months, even years or centuries? I don’t think you’d be so willing to call yourself soldier after that. I know.”  
  
“Cause you have done that, right?” she asked in a much calmer voice. It was reflective in the returned light flicker of the telepathic connection. Her wide eyes were locked on his with an eager look.  
  
He looked at her sadly. “Yes, and I hate wars.” He drew a shuddered breath, while letting his head dip in thought.  
  
“Why?” she asked simply. “Is it because you had to kill? Or you never had the proper training and preparation for it?”  
  
“There many reasons,” he replied coldly, only looking at her briefly. “Training and preparation had nothing to do with them. Nothing can prepare you.” He lifted his heated gaze, locking it on to her. “Trust me on that. And killing is such a small part of it. As I told you before, killing changes you, forces you to see a side of yourself...” He cut himself off, biting his tongue. “Let’s just say... I never want you to go through that, to see what I’ve seen.” He reached out through the telepathic connection, mimicking his hand. He caressed her right cheek. “I’d wish better for my daughter.”  
  
Jenny pulled out of his reach and a surge of sorrow flooded the telepathic connection. Her eyes were wide with moisture starting to form in them. “Your... your daughter?” she asked slowly, her voice slightly breaking.  
  
“What?” he asked, feeling frightened by the sensations he was feeling.  
  
“You... you called me your daughter,” she said, continuing to give out wave after wave of sadness through the telepathic connection. Soon, it was joined by shock.  
  
He scoffed, unable to hide the grin curving his lips. “Of course, you’re my daughter!”  
  
“You’ve never said it before,” she said sadly, bringing her hands up to cup he mouth. She drew in a few laboured breaths. “I thought... I thought I was... maybe another companion or... or worse… some horrible mistake that... that you wished...” So many images and feelings came rushing up to consume the Doctor that he had to force himself push some of them back.  
  
“What! No!” he exclaimed, immediately rising to his knees. He gripped the arms of Jenny chair to turn to her completely face him. “Jenny, you’re my daughter, my blood, my flesh, my...” A billion descriptive and relating references flooded his mind, but he stopped short. He realised speaking was pointless when there were better ways to communicate.  
  
Reaching out, the Doctor lifted his hands towards Jenny’s head. “A telepathic connection is not just for reading thoughts and feelings,” he told her. “Memories and images can be shared. Even knowledge. And I can…”  
  
When she pulled back slightly, giving him a questioning look, he hesitated to touch her temples.  
  
“Do you trust me?” he asked.  
  
Her wide eyes glistened, while staring deeply into his gaze. “I… why do we have to…?”  
  
Lowering his hands for a moment, he grinned proudly at her. “You are an utterly remarkable person, Jenny. Even among Time Lords, the rate at which you picked up on using your telepathic abilities, especially without training, is astounding. I am so proud of you, but you are still learning and there aspects best shared using some contact. At your level that is especially so.” Swallowing a nervous lump in his throat, he paused, reading the many feelings continuing to flicker across the telepathic connection. “And I feel, it can answer the questions swimming in your head.”  
  
Jenny drew a few shuddering breaths, before a bit of a smile formed on her face. “I trust you, Dad,” she said, leaning closer. “I’ll always trust you.”  
  
The Doctor beamed at her, before bringing his fingertips to her temples and cheeks. As his eyes fluttered shut, he heard her gasp. Opening his mind, he let his thoughts of her flow freely. He expressed everything he felt about her: all his hopes and dreams for her, all his love and devotion, and so much more.  
  
He heard her chock back a sob, before he felt her arms wrap around him. “Dad, I... I...”  
  
Quickly, he slid his hands from her head, pulling her into a tight hug. “I know,” he said softly, squeezing her close to him, “and I promise I’ll never let anything hurt you. I’ll die first.”  
  
“Don’t say that!” she stated in a tight voice. “I don’t think I could live without you.” He could feel her take in a shaky breath. “Just promise me, you’ll never leave me.”  
  
The Doctor stilled, holding on to Jenny firmly. He didn’t know what to say to that. He didn’t want to lie to her again, but he feared the truth might be worse.  
  
“Dad?” she asked, sounding fearful.  
  
“I promise,” he lied, hoping he could keep it at least for awhile. Drawing in another deep breath, he shut his eyes and appreciated Jenny’s closeness.  
  
There was a sniffle, before he heard her say. “Thank you, by the way, Dad.”  
  
Opening his eyes, he pulled back enough to see her face. “Sorry? Thank you for what?”  
  
“For the coat,” she replied, tugging on the lapel of her new coat. “Donna told me how you helped get it for me.”  
  
“Oh,” he said, feeling a surge of warmth on his cheeks. He leaned back, sitting back on his thighs. “Yes, well... I... ohm... Well, you needed one, right?”  
  
“Yes,” Jenny said with a beaming smile, wiping away the tears from her cheeks.  
  
“So there,” he said, running one hand along the back of his neck. “Couldn’t have you getting cold unnecessarily now, could I?” He coughed nervously.  
  
“Because that’s what parents do,” Jenny said.  
  
Tilting his head from side to side, the Doctor puffed out his lower lip, before letting a grin form on his face. “Yes, I guess they... we do.”  
  
“Usually do, you mean” commented another, familiar voice. The Doctor turned at the same time as Jenny towards the voice. Standing near the shed with a metal tin in hand was Donna. There was a smug, teasing grin on her face. “Of course, knowing your father, he needs all the help he can get.”  
  
“Oi!” he exclaimed. “I take offense to that.”  
  
“Too bad, Spaceman,” Donna said, before she glanced behind her. Wilf was coming up over the bluff. He held another thermos and two more cups. She looked once more back Jenny and the Doctor. “So... who’s up some biscuits with hot cocoa?”  
  
“Brilliant!” the Doctor exclaimed, only a second before Jenny said the same. That caused both Donna and Wilf to break into a roar of laughter.  
  
“My thoughts exactly!” Wilf added. “What better way to spend a night under the stars, but with biscuits and hot cocoa!”  
  
“Too right!” Jenny and the Doctor said at the same time.  
  
That earned them another roar of laughter of Donna and Wilf as they joined them.  
  
High above the stargazers, the pitch black sky grew a light with the streaks of colour. Life was going on as it always had. No matter how it might change, it always would... go on. Even when the darkest of times would threaten it, there was always another biscuit just as there would always be another day for the Doctor, and now, his daughter, Jenny.  
  
_To be continued in Blending In..._


End file.
